Northern Hemisphere

6.4 Northern Hemisphere

6.4.1 United States of America

The Coastal Research and Monitoring Strategy (CRMSW, 2000) brings together Federal, State, Tribal and Non-Governmental organisations and develops a co-ordinated, multi-agency, interdisciplinary approach to address the problems of coastal water quality and coastal resources. The strategy was a response to the problem that there was no nationally consistent, comprehensive monitoring programs to provide the information necessary for effective management of coastal systems. A key feature of the strategy is the nesting of designs to allow State-specific issues to be addressed in a national context, collective reporting and The Coastal Research and Monitoring Strategy (CRMSW, 2000) brings together Federal, State, Tribal and Non-Governmental organisations and develops a co-ordinated, multi-agency, interdisciplinary approach to address the problems of coastal water quality and coastal resources. The strategy was a response to the problem that there was no nationally consistent, comprehensive monitoring programs to provide the information necessary for effective management of coastal systems. A key feature of the strategy is the nesting of designs to allow State-specific issues to be addressed in a national context, collective reporting and

The National Coastal Condition Report (USEPA, 2001) summarises the condition of ecological resources in USA estuaries, and the programs that proved the most effective in measuring condition. Data was used from coastal monitoring programs from USEPA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Assessment and advisory data from State and other regulatory agencies was also used, although inconsistencies in the way this data was collected prevented it being used in a national comparison. The overall condition of USA’s estuaries was determined from seven coastal condition indicators: water clarity; dissolved oxygen; sediments; benthos; fish contamination; coastal wetland loss; and eutrophication.

United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has run a National Estuaries Program (NEP) for over ten years. The programs focus on integrated management and research in the entire watershed of 28 estuaries of national importance. Local estuary programs develop and implement conservation and management plans, using successful management approaches, technologies and ideas from the program as a whole. Pierson et al., (2002) provides a review of the 28 programs, particularly in relation to environmental flow.

The USEPA has also developed water quality criteria: toxicant criteria to protect aquatic life; biocriteria to describe the biological condition; microbial human health criteria; and is working on nutrient criteria (USEPA, 2003a). Its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), is extensive and has a mandate to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess USA’s aquatic environment (USEPA, 2003b). EMAP sampling is probability based, collecting estuarine data from hundreds of stations, focussing on answering broad- scale questions about environmental conditions (USEPA, 2003c). USEPA estuarine bioassessment and biocriteria techniques have been documented in an extensive and comprehensive manual (Gibson et al., 2000). Estuarine monitoring in the USA has The USEPA has also developed water quality criteria: toxicant criteria to protect aquatic life; biocriteria to describe the biological condition; microbial human health criteria; and is working on nutrient criteria (USEPA, 2003a). Its Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), is extensive and has a mandate to develop the tools necessary to monitor and assess USA’s aquatic environment (USEPA, 2003b). EMAP sampling is probability based, collecting estuarine data from hundreds of stations, focussing on answering broad- scale questions about environmental conditions (USEPA, 2003c). USEPA estuarine bioassessment and biocriteria techniques have been documented in an extensive and comprehensive manual (Gibson et al., 2000). Estuarine monitoring in the USA has

6.4.2 United Kingdom and Ireland

Awal (2002), in reviewing international estuarine management, noted that it was not until the 1990’s that the UK formally adopted integrated coastal and integrated management. In contrast, the USA has been practising this since the 1970’s. He also found that there was no national estuarine management legislation, but rather up to 90 individual coastal and estuarine management schemes primarily run at the local government level.

Deeley and Paling (1999) reviewed two estuarine health indices in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The first, in the UK is the National Water Council index (Wilson and Jeffrey 1994, in Deeley and Paling 1999). This index combines DO status, biological quality of fish habitat and benthos with observable pollution. The development and application of this index relies heavily on a detailed understanding of the relationships between the normal dynamics of the systems and their response to natural and anthropogenic stressors.

Ireland has developed two indices, the Irish Estuarine Research Programme Indices (Wilson and Jeffrey 1994, in Deeley and Paling, 1999). These consist of a pollution load index (organic, nutrient and water quality) and a Biological quality index (macrophytes and benthos). The pollution load index compares concentrations with known no effect or threshold effect levels for various estuarine biota. The Biological quality index uses the abundance and biomass of biota to classify estuarine segments into either abiotic, opportunistic or normal. Like the UK index this method requires considerable knowledge of the natural and anthropogenic variation.

FWR (2000) sets out the development of a tidal river habitat survey (TRHS) methodology for UK estuaries, developed from the approach used in rivers, and with the primary objective of determining habitat quality and modification scores similar to that develop for Victoria’s Index of Stream Condition (Ladson and White, 1999).